Events

Event Description

The Future of Forests and our Lives Connected to Them

A book talk and conversation with scientist and author Lauren E. Oakes

About Treekeepers: The Race for Forested Future:In recent years, planting a tree has become a catchall to represent “doing something good for the planet.” Many companies commit to planting a tree with every purchase. But who plants those trees and where? Will they flourish and offer the benefits that people expect?

In Treekeepers, Lauren E. Oakes takes us on a poetic and practical journey from the Scottish Highlands to the Panamanian jungle to meet the scientists, innovators, and local citizens who each offer part of the answer. Their work isn’t just about planting lots of trees, but also about understanding what it takes to grow or regrow a forest and to protect what remains. Throughout, Oakes shows the complex roles of forests in the fight against climate change, and of the people who are giving trees a chance with hope for our mutual survival.

Lauren E. Oakes is an environmental scientist and writer. She has held various appointments at Stanford University over many years as a researcher, lecturer, and adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Earth System Science. In addition to publishing her forest and climate-related research in academic journals, her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Scientific American, Emergence Magazine, Nautilus, and other media outlets. Her first book, In Search of the Canary Tree (Basic Books, 2018), won second place for the 2019 Rachel Carson Environment Book Award and was a finalist for the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Communication Award. 

Discussion will be moderated by Aaron Strong, Associate Professor in Environmental Studies.